Scythe Gaming, the golden boys of Singapore DotA (or Defence of the Ancient), are heading to Gamescon 2011 in Cologne Germany to play for US$1 million at the Valve invitational DotA 2 tournament. As the new developers of the sequel to the massively popular game mod, Valve is keen to make a big impression, and what better way to do so than to organize a million dollar tournament boasting the top 16 elite teams from across the world.

Benedict Lim, a member on team Scythe and better known to his fans and followers as hyhy, was down-to-earth when asked to comment on the challenge ahead. “Yes we are excited, but to be honest, we’re scared as well—especially when there’s so much on the line.” The developers have kept a very tight lid on the development thus far and apart from the 16 participating teams at Gamescon, not many are known to have had the privilege to poke and prod this highly anticipated title which is slated for release later this year.

However skeptics be cool as Benedict asserts that the sequel will play vastly similar to the first one—the game that we have all grew to love. Even then, the DotA veteran is not taking any chances, “DotA2 is still very much a new and unexplored game. In essence it is still a draft and hero game so we’ll be spending a lot of time formulating ban picks and team strategies involving all five heroes.”

Prudence and diligence is necessary when preparing for a task as monumental as the one that lies ahead of Team Scythe. And while they may have amassed an impressive haul of trophies and medals to date, their equally illustrious opponents such as the Danish set up, MYM (MeetYourMakers), and Ukraine based outfit, Na’Vi, will certainly make for tough competition for Benedict and clan.

“It’s going to be tough. With US$1 million dollars on offer, I can only imagine that every team is going to have a great desire to win,” acknowledges Benedict, “but we’ll give it our best.”

Team Scythe has been playing competitive DotA for 4 years now and they have been ubiquitous at all recent major DotA tournaments within that time. Their set up consists of 5 agile-finger blokes namely Tofuboi, Crispy.Roy, xy-, Chawy and the man of the moment, hyhy. Their achievements range from gold medals secured at the likes of World Cyber Games, Asian DotA championships, Electronics Sports World Cup, and to that of top regional placing and rankings at local tournaments.

The Valve DotA 2 invitational is just one of the many events at Gamescon 2011 and it will be cast in English by a familiar voice and fan favorite, TobiWan.

For more information on TeamScythe, you may follow them on their Facebook fanpage. 

And with that, we wish Team Scythe all the best at the DotA 2 games!